Second time round Agtastic was another success for the agricultural industry.

Hosted by Barossa YiAg

over 40 people from various backgrounds joined us throughout the day for a bus trip and dinner and
were exposed to innovative and futuristic concepts and ideas!
Starting with a winery tour of one of our sponsors Murray Street Vineyards, General Manager Anthony
Grundell and Winemaker Craig Viney took us through their wine making process as well as their
appreciation for a working environment that is worker friendly and product efficient.
The group then hopped on a bus to two local farms for discussions on topical issues and innovations.
Jason Henschke, Manager of Pareta Farms showed us how modern farming practices, such as leasing
of farming land can be corporatized with a board of directors working closely with the operations team.
He spoke of the importance of the process of good decision making when there are multiple
stakeholders.
Patrick Redden, Agribusiness Consultant and Agronomist for Rural Directions gave a detailed and
informed crop update, including an App called My Crop (issued by GRDC) for looking at crop diseases.
This shows that modern smartphone technology is right in the mix of farm operations these days.
Further to this Patrick noted the current studies that are underway into the scale of farm size and
profitability, i.e. those that can review / monitor / manage their performance can be profitable on a small
or large scale.
Jumping back on the bus and landing at the second farm, owned by the Hornsey family, Khiyam, Julian
Marchant from the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resource Management (NRM) Board and
Daniel Hornsey spoke about how NRM and private farmers can successfully work together with cofunding on various projects. One of the key points was there is a large mis-conception about
unsuccessful relationship between landholders and the NRM Boards. Daniel informed the group that
there is government funding available to fence off (which farmers need) and re-vegetate un-farmable
sections (NRM needs) of farms to preserve native plants and animals, reduce corrosion and return
wildlife, to name a few benefits.
Hamish Dickson of AgriPartner Consulting spoke about precision sheep management and how modern
techniques and technology has enabled farmers to measure profitability of animals similar to crops ($
per hectare). Furthermore farmers can now scan their sheep with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
ear tags and record data on their animals, such as; weight gains for meat, fleece gains for wool,
pregnancies for reproduction. New technologies are widely available but the farmer needs to know the
cost of the technology and WHY you have it. There is no use recording the data if you dont do anything
with it.
Back at Murray Street Vineyards, participants were treated to some of Elli Beers finest catering for the
evening which prepared them for the keynote speakers jaw-dropping information on the future of food
and technology!
Angeline Achariya, General Manager of the Food Innovation Centre in Melbourne, insisted that farmers
need to have a consumer for what they grow and to be sustainable and profitable farmers must and
find areas of growth. A poignant note from one technology trend mentioned: Foodies share their
pictures of their food, but farmers are reluctant to show the success of their production. Producers
should be proud of what they do and feel free to share the positive story of agriculture a note that
Barossa YiAg endorses wholeheartedly! She noted that it is very important to buy local and eat local -

even supermarket chain ALDI are looking to buy local / sell local. But the moment when the audiences
collective jaw dropped was when Angeline stated that in about 10 years time you wont need a cow to
have a piece of steak Scientist in Japan are currently working on growing meat from stem cells and
muscles which will enable 3D printed edible meat
Angeline finished by saying that due to the increase in need for safe food in Asia, that Australia can
provide this to the Asian nations, who are willing to pay ($12 for a litre of milk!). As such, rather than
looking at ourselves and the food bowl to Asia, we should be the Delicatessen with the provision of
premium products to their growing populations.
Barossa YiAg would like to thank all the sponsors, speakers and participants for their time and energy
into the conference. The next event is Friday 9 October at Australian Grains Technology, (AGT) based
at the University of Adelaides Roseworthy campus from 4:30-5:30pm, followed by networking
opportunities at The Wasleys Hotel. www.barossayiag.com/events for more information.

This project is supported by Barossa YiAg through funding from the Australian Governments National Landcare Programme and
the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board.